Archives

Aprihop – Dogfish Head Brewery Spring IPA

If you’ve followed The Brew Club for any amount of time, you might know that I’m not a huge fan of American IPAs. Why do I say that? Well, way back when, one of the first beers we exchanged for The Brew Club was the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA.

I found the beer to be way over my head, and unfortunately I’ve avoided buying IPAs since then! I know, that’s not a good thing but that’s what happened! I’ve been easing back into the fold as I’ve found that I do enjoy American Pale Ales which to me are like ‘IPA Juniors’ or something.

So I’m checking out the beer isle and I see this Aprihop beer from Dogfish Head. Its a spring release so it isn’t out all year and the sound of having apricots in the mix was appealing to me at the time. (Apricots are great!) I debated with myself (aloud, mind you) and remembered that I really enjoyed the DFH Punkin’ last fall and that convinced me to give this IPA a try!

I mentioned this was a spring seasonal beer, right? Well doing a little research I’ve learned that the recipe had been tweaked a bit because over the years the beer began to become more and more sweet and fruity, and less and less hoppy. The 2010 release is supposedly more like it was originally intended so if you’ve had it last year it’s probably going to be quite different for you.

Not ever having Aprihop before, I’ve got nothing to go on! This beer pours a very nice and perfectly clear amber color. Really a nice looking beer. There’s some carbonation going on and the beer seems lite and lively in the glass under the foamy off white head.

Not having many IPAs under my belt, I can best describe the aroma as ‘hoppy’ but more specifically it seems to be a citrusy type of hop aroma. Mixed in there is indeed the fresh smell of apricots – its there but I had to work a bit to pick up on it. So, its NOT a fruit beer, which is fine with me actually! (My wife said it had a ‘marmalade’ undertone.)

I had this beer sitting in my basement so I had it kind of chilled but not fridge cold. I think this was a good idea because while this is definately an IPA, it didn’t seem to overpower my tastebuds with hop insanity like the 60-Minute IPA I mentioned above did so long ago.

Its got a citrusy hop flavor thing, but its also got enough malt and then seemingly just the right amount of apricot to really balance everything out. I can drink this beer! Wooo!

I won’t go to much into mouthfeel and body, its a winner to me at this point based on flavor alone and its renewed my hope that I can enjoy more IPAs in the future. At one time Dogfish Head scared me off, and now Aprihop has welcomed me back!

Rating this beer is going to be hard. I really liked it and I would buy it again. I think it should be a Summer beer too – this would be great on one of those hot days. Still, I don’t have much to compare it to but standing alone I think I would give this beer a three and a half stars which is pretty good.

The first time I had Aprihop, I didn’t like it at all. It was such an odd mix of flavors. But I stashed one and tried it nearly a year later and loved it the second time. I doubt the beer changed much, just my taste perception. Your review reminds me a lot of my experience (even down to the detail of pulling it up from the basement 🙂
.-= nate´s last blog ..Guest Review: Don from Beer and Whiskey Bros Reviews Black Cauldron =-.

@Scott…I’ve had the 2008 and the 2009, actually. now I can’t wait to try the 2010. I also remember the first time I had sour beer. hated it. Now I love it. I’m learning to never say never.
.-= nate´s last blog ..Social Networking and Beer Pt. 2: Noise and Clarity =-.

@Don – That’s a good idea actually, and you know that I can’t say no to you!

@Nate – Curious to hear your opinions on the differences once your fast is over. I bet you have a lot of catching up to do!
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..Irish Beer – Past, Present and Future =-.

@Nate – If you left an Aprihop for a year, the flavors definitely changed in that time. Your tastes probably did as well, but the beer definitely would have tasted fairly different from when it was fresh.

FYI if you go to the dogfish website Sam explains that they tweaked the batch this year as he feals like it was two fruit forward in the last couple years and they wanted it more balanced this year. I cant wait to try it now!

Ya know I’ve never had Aprihop. gonna have to get some this year. Heard lots of good things about it. Maybe I should include it in my next beer tasting.
.-= Peter at Simply Beer´s last blog ..Helles Schlenkerla Lager =-.

It would make a fine addition I think Peter. I grabbed what was the last 4-pack @ Total Wine so I don’t know how long its available though! (act now!)
.-= Scott-TheBrewClub´s last blog ..O’Hara’s Irish Stout – Carlow Brewing Company =-.

I enjoyed Aprihop last year, but haven’t tried it this year yet. I’m very intrigued in how they tweaked it. I’d compare Aprihop with Magic Hat’s #9. I definitely get apricots. Not a “fruit beer”, but as their slogan says – “not quite a pale ale” either. Tasty and very refreshing way to welcome in some of the first nice days of spring. I have a couple of bottles in my fridge right now.